What never ceases to amaze me is the way one person can take the smallest notation from history, and turn it into a story of staggering depth and beauty that the rest of us would never have even considered. In this case, I’m referring to Maggie O’Farrell and her newest novel, Hamnet, the story of one real little boy in 16th century England, his mother, the bubonic plague, and ... Read More...
The Guide: A Novel by Peter Heller
After finishing Peter Heller’s new novel, The Guide, I realized I needed to come up with a new genre for books of this type that draw me so here it is: Wilderness Thrillers. Novels where the authors’ portrayal of nature is as compelling as the plot. Heller’s last novel The River, Charlotte McConaghy’s Once There Were Wolves, and Tim Johnston’s Descent all come to mind. Jack is ... Read More...
August Reading Wrap-Up
August, what a month for reading. Even better—not just quantity, but quality. All this despite the fact that I cancelled my second cataract surgery because I found the results from the first so unsatisfactory. I’m making do with the new fuzzy implanted lens and a contact lens in my other eye. Not where I thought I’d be, but I’ll have to get it figured out. On to the books! I ... Read More...
The Women of Troy: A Novel
Helen has always been the most well-known woman from the legend of Troy, but author Pat Barker brings to life another woman who, through no will of her own, played a role even more critical to the Trojan War mythology. Briseis. The queen of a city sacked by Achilles when the war first began, she was given to him as a war prize to be his concubine. Barker’s last novel, The ... Read More...
Songbirds: A Novel by Christy Lefteri
Sorry to start a review with a longwinded explanation, but…Songbirds was a new experience for me. I don’t remember ever starting a book and being so put off by the opening scene. Yiannis is a main character, living in Cyprus, a country that is in the direct migration path of millions of small, exotic birds. He’s a poacher, trapping them by the hundred in nets and then killing ... Read More...
We Are the Brennans: A Novel
Sunday Brennan lives in L.A. pursuing her dream of being a writer, right up until she gets in a drunk driving accident and her emergency contact is her older brother, Denny. Despite living on the opposite side of the country he arrives, forcing her to acknowledge her dream is not happening and it’s time to come home. This is We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange, a contemporary ... Read More...
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 68
- 69
- 70
- 71
- 72
- …
- 292
- Next Page »
